Boating, Mombasa
Note : “One could say Battiss takes an eagerly enthusiastic step forward in bold, sometimes cheekily arrogant simplification, and still manages to keep pace ahead of most other contemporary South African artists.”1
Walter Battiss returned throughout his career to the images he explored as a young boy in the Koffiefontein district and its surrounds. In the wealth of San rock art in this area he was exposed not only to the painted surface but also petroglyphs, or rock engravings.2 Battiss assimilated this technique into his oil paintings by both drawing into the painted surface and adding back when further description was required.
In Boating, Mombasa, Battiss has drawn into the impasto paint to describe figures, boats and foliage while in other areas he has painted these same subjects onto the canvas.
As in many of his works, Battiss’ sense of humour is ever present. Amongst the throng of boating figures are two Europeans, seen near the left-hand edge of the composition, who stand out from the crowds with their white shirts and sunburnt complexions, waiting for their transport .
1 Schoonraad, Murray. Walter Battiss. C. Struik Publishers, Cape Town, 1976, page 59
2 Petroglyphs – images were created by gouging into the rock face. These shapes were most often done in outline but could also be delineated with pigment and texture which could be added back into the surface.
